The Spiritual World: Talks for Children by George de Charms

5.  The Moon in Heaven

When the Lord created the world it is said that He placed in the firmament of heaven two great lights, the sun to rule by day, and the moon to rule by night. The difference between these two is the difference between that which is direct, and that which is reflected. The sun is pure fire, so hot that nothing on earth could withstand its burning heat, and so bright that one who looks steadily at it becomes blinded. The moon, however, is not fire.... How do you suppose it is that an earth like ours…can give so much light as we see from the moon at night? It is because the sun shines on the moon and makes it bright. It is really the light of the sun that we see; but light that has first gone to the moon, and then come back to us. This is what is called reflected light. It is not nearly as brilliant as direct light; nor is it nearly as warm. It is different in color, the light of the sun being red or golden; while the light of the moon is white, or silvery. In the light of the sun we can see far more clearly, more distinctly. The light of the moon is uncertain, deceptive. The difference between them is as between broad daylight and a clear night when the moon is full. In the daytime, when the sun is shining, we feel like working or playing, or doing something useful. By the light and heat of the sun we are stirred to action. But at night, in the light of the moon, we feel like being quiet, and thinking. There is something wonderfully beautiful about the sky on a bright moonlit night, something that keeps our eyes fixed upon it, and makes us think. We may think about the things of life, but it will probably be the deeper things; and especially about the Lord, and about heaven. The light of the moon makes us think, while the light of the sun makes us act.

Now, it was not only in the natural world that the Lord created two great I lights, but also in the spiritual world. We have learned about the sun there; how it is in the center of that world; how it never rises nor sets but remains always before the eyes of the angels, and how where they see it is in the East, so that when they think of the East they think of the Lord who dwells in the sun of heaven. There is also a moon in that world, differing from the sun there as our moon differs from our sun. But there are some wonderful things told about it in the Writings, which we should know.

The sun of heaven is many times brighter than our sun; and so also the moon there is far brighter than our moon. In fact, the moon there is just about as bright as our sun is here. It is like our sun except that its light is white, and not red; silvery, and not golden. But the angels who see in its light are not in so dim and uncertain a light as we derive from our moon at night. When we go to the other world the prophecy of Isaiah will be fulfilled: "The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun; and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." In fact, the angels who see in the light of the moon in heaven see far more clearly than we do here at midday.

The moon in the other world is different from our moon. It is not an earth on which people live. It is the sun, but the sun, as it were, reflected against clouds. Frequently in this world, just as the sun is going down you will see it reflected against the clouds, making them appear beautifully colored, red, and orange, and yellow, and purple. Sometimes, though the sun is going down in the West, you will see clouds far over toward the East thus lighted up and turned into glorious colors. And do you know that when there are clouds in the West the sun is so reflected against them that you think you see the sun itself, and it continues to give you light, even after it has gone down? You think you see the sun there, although it is not there, just as when you hold up a mirror to the sun and look into it you think you see the sun in it. So the sun appears in the other world to the angels in a place where it really is not, but where it is reflected.

This place is at a distance from the center of that world where the sun really is, and when seen there the sun looks like our moon, only much more brilliant. Swedenborg saw it there, and he said that it had several little moons round it.

This is the way the sun of the other world looks to the angels who are in the South there. It looks like a sun to those in the East, and like a moon to those in the South. Those in the East never see it as a moon; and those in the South never see it as a sun. So it is not as it is in this world, that in the daytime we see the sun, and at night the moon; for there is no night in heaven. But still there is morning, noon, and evening there. In the heaven of those who are in the East, the sun shines first with a marvelous golden light, like that of early morning. That light then grows brighter until it is like that of the sun at midday. And afterwards, it begins to be dimmed, and to grow less golden and more silvery, until as evening comes it seems to move from the East towards the South, where the moon appears.

This, then, which is evening for the angels who are in the East, is morning for the angels who are in the South. For when this takes place the moon gradually grows brighter and shines with the light of day upon the southern heavens.

The difference between the light of the sun there, and the light of the moon, is similar to that between the light of the sun and of the moon here. That is, those who see the Lord as a sun are inspired at once to act, to work, to do things in the service of the Lord, as we are in the daytime. But those who see Him as a moon are rather inspired to think, to study, to reflect, and to teach the things that the Lord makes known to them. Thus they are of a different quality. Those in the East are called the celestial, and those in the South, where the Lord is seen as a moon, are called the spiritual; and each heaven is called a separate kingdom, one which the Lord rules as a sun, and the other which He rules as a moon.

Lesson: Isaiah 60:1-4, 19, 20

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